An 18-year-old from Westbury was arrested Tuesday in connection with violent threats he allegedly made toward students and faculty, according to the Nassau County Police Department.
Oketa Orlando Blair Jr., a student at Westbury High School, was arrested without incident after a thorough investigation, police said.
Several Twitter comments made Friday, May 27, in response to a post on Westbury High School’s Twitter page, convey a desire to commit violent acts at the school, saying “Ima shoot that school up one day” and “Ima shoot everyone.” The posts were still live on Wednesday afternoon, and Twitter flagged them as violating its rules.
When faculty became aware of the threats, school administrators immediately contacted the Old Westbury Police Department, Nassau police said. Blair has been barred from purchasing firearms under New York State’s Extreme Risk Protection Law, also known as the “red flag law,” granted by a judge.
Blair was charged with making a terroristic threat and second-degree aggravated harassment. He will be arraigned Wednesday at First District Court in Hempstead.
The arrest comes after a 16-year-old boy from Bellport allegedly made similar threats online of a “massive shooting” at Bellport High School. The boy, whose name was not released because he is a minor, was charged with a felony count of making a terroristic threat and a misdemeanor count of harassment.
The threats also come days after an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on May 24 — the deadliest elementary school mass shooting since December 2012, when 20 first graders and six educators were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.
-With Tim Bolger
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